Last Splash
by Shuvcat
Summary: Miss season 3? :) Two days before Graduation, Faith and the Mayor spend the day at the mall.


"Last Splash" by Shuvcat

Last Splash by Shuvcat (c) 2001 That trip to the mall, two days before graduation. Slightly angsty Faith/Mayor fluff. PG-13 for language. The tie at the end is the one he wore at graduation, as best as I could see it.  
Based on characters owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, Fox, Sanddollar, and please welcome newcomers to our happy little legal brawl, the UPN. :) For WlfGrrl; who likes the father/daughterness of these two, as do I. 

**_Knock, knock._ Faith jumped the futon like it was the last hurdle of an obstacle course, tugging her t-shirt down over her breasts. She ran past the door across the sunlit rug, on her way to the kitchen in her apartment, knowing already who was at the door. There was only one person who'd knock, and it wasn't like she had great troops of party pals visiting anyway. "It's open," she called out, careful not to give an invitation, just in case it wasn't who she thought it was. The door didn't open, though. Instead there was another, musical knock. _Bap-ba-ba-bap-bap....bap-bap._ Faith's brow furrowed, annoyed. "I said, it's open, boss," she hollered toward the door. She turned off the microwave that was heating up her breakfast -- Pop-Tarts, she didn't like the burn marks the toaster made -- and ran toward the door, grumbling faintly. "God, it's like I gotta do everything around here--" Mayor Wilkins stood in the hallway, clutching a handful of store-bought flowers. An ear-to-ear grin was on his face. "Guess what today is," he greeted. Faith smiled at him, tucking an errant strand of chocolate hair back behind her ear. She was lousy at guessing games. "Damn, y'got me," she said in an inviting growl. "C'mon in." The Mayor did so, snapping his fingers. "Hey, hey now." The snapping turned to rubbing. "You know the rules, Faith. That'll be one simoleon, if you please." Faith rolled her eyes. But the dollar he requested for swearing didn't mean that much to her anymore. Time was she'd hire herself out for dollars at a time, but he gave her so much allowance that the same amount that used to keep her fed was now no more to her than a penny. The Mayor laughed delightedly as she stuffed the buck into the "cuss can"; actually an envelope he brought around with him. "Boy oh boy, look at that! I bet I could fund a repaving of the entire city with this, Faith." He gave her a grin, but it wasn't so much taunting as it was sympathetically teasing. "Of course... repaving the city's going to be a rather moot point a few days from now." He laughed, clearly in an up mood. "Which begs the question, again: guess what day today is!" Faith shrugged, smiling as she walked back to the kitchen area. "I don't know, what day is it?" she asked. "Aw, come on!" The Mayor's smile wilted. "That's no fun. You've got to guess." Faith rolled her eyes again. She was happy he'd come, she had somebody to eat breakfast with, but these games of his.... "Day ninety-eight," she offered. The Mayor seemed pleased she'd remembered. "That, and.....?" He waited. "Let me rephrase that; guess what day _yesterday_ was." Faith was stumped. "Boxing Day," she threw out, inexplicably. "Nope!" He shook his head, gleeful. "Oh, all right, I'll tell you. Yesterday was what the kids in town call Senior Skip Day. Pretty much organized truancy, really.... drives Mr. Snyder absolutely nuts, I can tell you." He chuckled, sitting down at the pretty blue kitchen table with matching chairs, resting his chin in his hand. "Do you know that man calls me almost repeatedly the day after, complaining about how badly behaved his kids are? And don't get me wrong, he's been invaluable to my little operation here. Never questions, never complains.... never worries about matters that don't...concern him. No sir--" Faith came back to the table, with a second plate of Pop-Tarts especially for him. She didn't see what his point was. So the kids of Sunnydale -- which inevitably meant Buffy and her goody-two-shoes gang -- had spent yesterday cutting class and partying. Was that supposed to make her happy? It didn't. "And this is supposed to interest me...how?" she asked, unable to keep the impatience from her voice. The Mayor beamed. "Well, yesterday being Skip Day for everyone and his brother Jack means that today... is Skip Day for us." He picked up a Tart and took a bite. "You get to skip from being...." He paused as they both realized she, being a dropout of both school and the social scene, really had nothing to skip from. "...ah, well, and I get to skip from work. Namely, I get to be absent when Mr. Snyder calls. As he undoubtedly will." His grin faded, a brief look of annoyance crossed his face as he munched. "Like clockwork," he added, with what looked suspiciously like a grimace. Faith had to smile. The man had demons of hell in the palm of his hand, but even he couldn't stomach being around SHS's weaselly principal for long. "Okay," she answered slowly, balancing a Tart on its edge on her plate. This sounded promising. "So what'd you have in mind? Obviously we're not goin' out pub crawling...." "Heh, no," he grinned. "Gosh, is _that_ what kids do these days?? Boy, I remember when they used to....well, never mind that." He shook his head. "No, I thought we'd just, you know... see where the day takes us." Faith reflected how three months ago she would have taken the opportunity to make a dirty crack at that. The early days of her alliance with him had been constant battles of wits, and her dogged attempts to prove that his wholesome family guy act was a facade, another target for her to tear down, and expose for the bull it had to be. Nobody could be that chaste, especially not a black hat. But things had transpired in their short time together to sweep her mistrust away. Over and over she'd laid herself bare, emotionally if not literally, and over and over he'd not only refused, but even made her feel childish and silly for thinking that way. That was something sex had never been before. To Faith, sex had always been adult, dark and frightening; fun and addictive, an ugly reality. The one grown-up currency she understood and had a good solid foot in. Grown-ups had sex, period, and if you thought you didn't have to you were weak, naive, and looking to get raped or worse. That was reality. Or so she'd thought. Around him, reality went away, and Faith found herself looking at her old belief as though it were some sick, pornographic nightmare. As if that were the child, and what he kept pushing her to be -- clean, wholesome, not willing to screw anything on two legs -- that were the adult. All her notions of what it meant to be a functioning woman in the real world were being turned upside down. She liked it. It was a lot easier, in a way, to live like that. Didn't mean she still didn't get that low-down tickle or that she wouldn't be able to find ways to satisfy it. Wasn't like she was a fricking nun now or anything. She was still hot, sexy, still the bad-ass. He just gave her a place where for once, she had a choice in the matter. She could be Faith, or she could be this other, softer, cleaner thing. The Anti-Faith. _How twisted is that,_ she thought suddenly. _I've killed more people these past three months than I ever would have with Bu.... with them, and here I am calling myself clean._ Faith shrunk away from that ugly thought. The sunlight had gone dark for a split second, and she wasn't gonna take that. She blinked, shook her head, and it was back: bright sunlight, a clean table with a vase of flowers, sugar-coated breakfast, and the Mayor, smiling sweetly at her. Skip Day. A whole day of fun. Faith let a smile break her face. "Let's roll," she said.   


*****************

  
They left the air-conditioned lobby of the apartment complex, Faith's skin goosebumping as they hit the warm spring sun. The Mayor suddenly took her arm as she headed down the sidewalk to where he usually had the limo parked. "Uh, wait...." He shook his head, gazing down the street. "Let's not go that way today," he suggested. Faith didn't get it. "What, we're gonna walk?" she asked. Walking didn't sound that great. She liked riding around in the limo. Mayor Wilkins shook his head, as he and she turned down the other direction on the street. "No, it's just.... it's probably best if the fewer people that know of my being...absent today... the better. Can't ambush you if they think you're still on watch. Let Roger sit there for a while." A laugh. "He'll sit there all day if I tell him to. I tell you what, we'll walk to the bus station. Hey!" He snapped his fingers. "You know what opened last week? Great Eagle Park!" Faith gave up following his whirlwind train of thought. She was familiar with that place. There were posters for the closest amusement park all over Sunnydale, and Buffy and the gang used to talk about going, but of course, they had never invited her. And probably never would have. Faith's step perked. "That the one with the Devil Drop?" she asked hopefully. The look that came into Mayor Wilkins' eyes at the mention of the world's third scariest ride almost cracked Faith up. "Ah.....well, yes, among other things. Heck of a carousel!" He grinned, almost desperately. Carousel schmarousel. Faith wanted the Devil Drop. "Sounds great," she grinned, sure she could talk him into it. So they walked the two blocks down the leafy green streets to the bus stop, where they waited on a bench under more leafy trees for the bus, a clean supertram-type deal with Great Eagle's logo on the side, and they rode to the amusement park. The carousel he was so amped about was actually pretty cool. The horses were each different, not the mass-produced chipped-paint kind they had at traveling fairs she'd been to. These horses had bright new paint and rhinestones, and there were other animals too; tigers and unicorns and dragons. And it went FAST. They actually didn't even let little kids on, it was a twelve-and-up ride, and Faith found herself really needing to hang onto the pole as her hair flew out behind her, romping up and down as the park spun past her. After the carousel they hit the spinning teacup ride, the water wheel, even Vicious Temper; the world's sixth largest roller coaster. He went on every single ride with her, both of them kicking their feet on the three-story-high Swingster, as the treetops flew below them. Faith was having a blast. Last one was the Devil Drop. "C'mon, it'll be great!" she insisted, dragging him over by the hand. The Mayor groaned, staring miserably up at the towering structure. They were just in time to see a car full of people reach the top of the tower, where it had been slingshotted at a hundred twenty MPH from the ground. Then it immediately plummeted back to the ground, its occupants shrieking and screaming. Zero to eighty in three seconds. Faith could hardly wait. "Come ON! We've done everything else, even the rabbit rides! You gotta do this with me!" In the end, he let himself be dragged on the ride. The bored teenage attendant (who looked familiar, Faith couldn't quite place him....it better not be one of Buffy's friends, or she'd have to kill him, and that would really put a crimp in this day) strapped them into the seats. Faith and the Mayor were squished in together like sardines along with thirteen other screaming college kids, listening to Metallica blasting out of the ride operator's PA system. Faith looked at his white knuckles and suppressed a laugh. "What are you, nervous??" She looked up in his face, at his eyes, trying to avoid her. "You're not scared, are you? Mr. Mayor sir?" she teased, laughing. The Mayor looked abused. "No, I'm not scared! It's just, heh, I've never really been on one of these since they started making them....well...." Faith couldn't believe this. It was just too funny. "Man, what are _you_ worried about?! I mean, the worst thing that could happen is the brake could fritz out and we'd be shot like ten stories into the air.... end over end, come crashing down in the parking lot and be splattered all over the minivans." She didn't notice the horrified young college girl seated on her other side, eyes getting bigger and bigger. "And even so, you'd recover from that! You and your invincible bod, you'd pull yourself together in no time! So what have you got to be worried about?" Faith grinned wickedly. The college coed next to her looked panicked. "Oh God," she whimpered, all sorts of nightmarish images going through her mind now, thanks to Faith. And the ride was starting, she couldn't get off. She gripped the bar in agony. "Ohh, God, I knew this was a mistake, I just knew--" The Mayor, however, seemed to have realized the truth in Faith's statement. "Hey....you know you're right? I never thought of it that way!" He uttered a chuckle, let his fingers relax from around the bar. Then the car shot into the sky. The ground dropped away, gone in a flash. Soon all they could see was the city blocks across town, and the forest past that, the world at their feet, the sunlit sky above them. Faith uttered a thrilled, gutteral scream as they blasted off; anything that even resembled an orgasm was fun in her book. The college coed squealed in horror. The Mayor yelped, but he was clearly less freaked than he thought he would be. With a gut-wrenching jolt, the car stopped at the top of the tower. Faith looked up above her at the pair of Great Eagle flags waving from the blinking lights. Then she looked down at the city of Sunnydale. Green, populous, beautiful. The Mayor had done quite a job on his little town. "Get a good look, Faith," his voice came beside her, as if he knew what she was thinking. "It's all yours. Everything you see from here to eternity. Two days from now, it's gonna look a lot different, believe you me." And he uttered a short, giggly laugh. It was a nice promise, and Faith was grateful. But part of her couldn't help feeling a little...bummed. She wondered if the new, post-Ascension world would have room for amusement parks, for Devil Drops, for cotton candy and ice cream. And how would he be able to have any fun with it? Faith looked at him, and the Mayor looked back at her. He hadn't told her much about the Ascension itself -- just that he would be transforming into some weird demon-god thing. How was he gonna get to do anything like that? Or would everything be so changed that they wouldn't care, either of them? He already had her questioning her ideas about sex and adulthood. Would she be looking back at today months from now, laughing and shaking her head at how worried she'd been, how childish and silly her fears were? She looked at him, and he looked at her. And neither one of them frowned....but neither of them could exactly smile, either. And the car dropped.   


***********************

  
After the Mayor had called Roger to come pick them up, they took off in the limo. They hadn't gotten far down the street when the Mayor's cell phone went off. Faith's shoulders went up, reflexively. Usually when a call came through on his cell it meant she would have to drop whatever she was doing and go kill somebody. She waited, half-hoping it wasn't the case this time. It was unlike her....but she didn't want to kill anyone today. The Mayor looked down at his jacket lapel like a particularly gross bug had landed there. "Ah, no," he decided, pulling out the chirping phone and switching it off, killing the noise. "Darn! Phone seems to have mysteriously cut out. I hope nobody important calls." He laughed subversively, tickled to be ditching Snyder and whoever else might be trying to get him. Faith let a smile cut her face, relaxing. This close to zero hour, he had to have lots of important things to do... but he seemed to be enjoying this, letting everything go and not having to be....whatever the hell he was, for a while. Faith couldn't remember being aware that someone actually _wanted_ to hang with her before this. Besides for the obvious reason. It was a pretty damn nice change. They left Great Eagle, heading for the mall. Faith, as a rule, tended to avoid the mall ever since joining him, knowing that was one place that the white hats, if not Buffy herself, were likely to be found. Also they didn't generally have her style there; it was all boutiques and bright chirpy colors and potpourri barns. There was only one store in the mall Faith liked much, and that was Death by Goth, the Sunnydale Mall's prerequisite freaky-clothes store. Faith made a beeline for it as they entered the bright, skydomed inner plaza, sidestepping the circular fountain with its fake palm trees. The goth store was dark, lit by black lights and papered with glowing neon posters, Orgy blasting over the speakers, an oasis of evil and gloom in the outside sea of perk. Faith let out a sigh of relief as she sunk into the depths of the store, followed by the Mayor, who fingered one of a row of napalm-colored Hawaiian shirts. "Faith?" he suddenly spoke up. "What size are you?" Faith smirked. _And a what-are-you-wearing to you too,_ she thought. She turned, leaning her elbows back on a display case, displaying her own attributes. "38B," she answered with a grin. The Mayor's eyes lifted, he gave her that you-know-darn-well look. "_Dress_ size, Little Miss Smartypants," he admonished. Faith shrugged, grinning. "I don't know. Everything I've got says M on the tag, if that helps." Without a second thought she resumed searching for good stuff. Actually she had everything she could need now, at her apartment; for the first time in her life she couldn't think of one thing she really wanted to buy. Outside of maybe a Harley, and maybe she would, after the Ascension. She remembered four months ago, coming into this very same store and shoplifting some leather cuffs and a slick black vinyl skirt. The clerk had been suspicious, but she'd made off with the goods and never gone back. She remembered that day -- one of few overcast winter days, alone, at the mall, trying miserably to have a good time by herself, knowing that Buffy and Willow or someone were out together, having real fun, sharing secrets...probably talking about her.... probably laughing at her-- Faith actually smiled. Two days from now, she'd be the one doing the laughing. And she refused to think about it anymore, forcing her attention on the case of sterling silver rings, which never failed to deliver something worth her while. There were huge knuckle breakers for guys in the shape of skulls and lion heads, heavy metal barbed wire trinkets, cute little girly unicorns and fairies and dragons.... Faith peered closer, tapping a red laquered fingernail on the glass. "Lemme see that one," she told the clerk, tucking her flopping brown hair back. She wasn't sure if it was the same clerk, or if he recognized her as the shoplifter from four months ago, but he didn't say anything as he got out the silver ring and handed it to her. It was a snake -- a winding snake wrapping around her finger, with diamond eyes. The tiny scales had been carved all the way around, and there was a little rattle at the end. It was a well done ring, she'd seen snake rings before but this one was nice. And for -- she checked the tag -- a hundred ten, it damn well better be. She tore the tag off. "Love it. I'll wear it out." The clerk gave her a narrow look. It probably _was_ the same guy...and she gave him a sweet grin as she pulled out cash. She bought more stuff -- lots more, it was a shopping spree, last time she'd be able to spend money at this or any mall in probably a while. She stocked up on leather pants, wondering what exactly a demonic preistess of today would want to wear. She didn't see anything else she really liked, besides a clean white tank with a sacred heart printed on the front of it. This particular shirt was the kind that shrank after one washing and was priced moronically high, only spoiled yuppie kids with nothing better to waste their dough on would buy it.... Faith grabbed it off the rack. Clean, new, expensive clothes. Why the hell not? There was a sick sort of triumph in buying that tanktop, spending money she would have given a few pounds of flesh for back in the day, when she was homeless and living out of dumpsters. She sneered at that poor, pathetic loser she used to be, living in filth and misery. Screw that shit. Wouldn't ever have to worry about money from now on. She cast a look back, realizing the Mayor had left the store. Where was he? Faith sacked her stuff and reluctantly stepped out of the protective gloom of DbG's, out into the loud sunny atmosphere of the mall. She looked up and down the crowded walkways, heart flipping a few times as she caught sight of blonde hair here.... green eyes there.... a familiar coat, a certain walk.... but these were all on separate people, none of them coagulating into the one person she was looking for, afraid to see. Afraid? No way. Faith wasn't scared of anything now, especially not Buffy. Hell, the boss had it sewn up. If anything, Faith should be feeling sorry for B, cause she was going to be snake kibble in two days time. Shouldering that thought, along with her sack, Faith scanned the storefronts. There he was -- the Mayor, inside a ladies dress store. Ooookay.... Faith's eyes traveled further down the aisle, and she started walking. There was a store next to the dress one, the kind of men's wallet-and-shirt emporium she would normally have no business in. Casting a look back to make sure the Mayor didn't see her, in she walked, boots clicking on the white floor. The flourescent lights glared blindingly off the buffed linoleum, and mind-blanding muzak purled pleasantly from the speaks. Faith made a face. "Ugh. Deliver us from Jewel." Two businessmen by the counter got an eyeful as the dark, lithe Slayer leaned up against the bins. She wasn't sure what she was browsing for, but she got the feeling she'd know it when she saw it. Had to be nice, tasteful.... taste, what did she know about taste? Wasn't that what sweet lil' Willow kept saying behind her back, that Faith was a tasteless whore? Faith smiled, again unusually cheered by thoughts of her worst friends. "Wonder how tasteless you'll be, Red," she spoke quietly. "Bet the boss'll barf you up the second he gets you down, talk about tasteless...." She giggled, it wasn't that funny but hell. Girl had to get her chuckles somewhere. There it was. Faith stopped dead, tilting her dark head as she stared down.... at the bug-ugliest tie she'd ever seen. Gory red, streaked with yellow veins.... It was perfect. She snatched it out of the bin. Time was she would have stuffed it under her shirt and taken off, but she was a rich bitch now, and sidled smilingly past the two gawking suburbanites on her way to the register. Her dues paid, she bailed from the yup store and the strains of Foolish Games at mach ten. Faith stuffed the purchase to the bottom of her bag, smiling coolly as she approached the Mayor, who'd finally stepped out of the ladies store. He was carrying a bag, too, and Faith raised an eyebrow. "Hey. What's in the bag?" She peered around him, trying to get a look. He held it behind his back with a grin. "Ah-ah, no peeking," he chided. Faith tilted her head skeptically. Well, his wife was AWOL, he didn't have a girlfriend, and as far as Faith knew he wasn't into alternative lifestyles....so the whatever-it-was was undoubtedly for her. A funny twittery feeling set in her stomach -- she loved presents, she hated surprises, and she was dying to know what was in there. But he wouldn't give it away. Later, he insisted. All she was able to catch from the brief glimpse of the bag was something pink. Yikes. Pink?? Faith shrugged it off, resolving to let it bother her later. They walked along the walkway together, side by side, bags swinging. "Having a good time?" he asked her. "Yeah," she answered without a beat. She was. The sunlight must have gone down a little, because it seemed less glaring than it had before, now it poured from the skylights warm and gold-colored and just right as they walked past shops together. There were still a few kids who hadn't gotten the message that Skip Day was yesterday, running around, but they were all hollow images who would be ashes in a few days, and Faith didn't bother herself with them. Actually.... she wasn't feeling the ever-present, subtle hostility that usually underlined her trips into public. The nagging resentment she normally felt toward all those happy idiots bouncing around without a care in the world wasn't as strong. Maybe because today she was one of them? That had to be it. She looked down at herself, clothed in brighter duds than usual -- well, blue jeans and a pale blue tee _was_ bright, for her -- and she looked at him, ambling along with his jacket open, collar undone. He didn't look like the mayor of Sunnydale today, and Faith knew she didn't look like a bad ass killer Slayer, either. They both looked shockingly normal....almost human. They might have been any other two people walking along the mall, they fit right in. It was spooky. They stopped outside the Gallery Cinema. "Well well, let's see what's playing today," the Mayor said, gazing up at the marquee. "Good gravy. 'Death Assault Four'?" Faith wrinkled her nose. "The first Assault was good, the others were crap," she muttered. Hearing the now-familiar snapping of fingers, she resignedly handed over another dollar, and kept looking. "Hey, the new Star Wars." The devil-like face of Darth Maul blared out at them from Episode One's poster, hanging in the glass. "Star Wars!" exclaimed the Mayor. "Now, _there_ was an epic. Young Luke Skywalker, tempted by his father to turn to the dark side of the Force." Faith nodded slowly. "This one's about Darth Vader. How he got to be evil." She and he gazed at the poster for a long moment. A battle between good and evil. A once-virtuous warrior, tempted to the dark side, to ultimately meet doom at the end of a glowing sword. "Let's see somethin' else," Faith muttered suddenly. "Yes... let's do that," the Mayor quickly agreed, turning away. They ended up going to Toy Story 2. For two hours they sat there watching computerized figures of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen talk to each other, and it was a pretty fun time. Toys, candy colors, corny jokes. When was the last time Faith had seen a G-rated movie? She couldn't remember. When it was over with, after staying for ALL the end credits, Faith and Mayor Wilkins emerged from the theatre, stretching their legs and still noshing on Jujubes. The skylight above them was colored bright pink now, the sun was going down outside, and still the day wasn't over. They walked together down to the Food Court, ordered from the junkiest fast-food vendor they could find, and plunked themselves down at one of the tables, trays packed with fries and burgers and greasy unwholesome food. The Mayor peeked inside his jacket lapel, seeming to look for something. "Still there," he beamed, tapping his beeper. "So far, so good. They haven't tracked us down yet." He winked at her. Faith smiled. He seemed like a little kid, as concerned about not getting nailed for skipping school as any of the seniors might have been. "Say! That's--" He reached out suddenly, toward her new ring. "May I?" "Sure." Faith flared out her hand, showing it off. The silver gleamed beautifully in the track lighting overhead. "I bought it," she assured him, though he wouldn't have called her on stealing it. "It's, um, a snake." Duh. That was obvious. "It's kind of..." She cleared her throat, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. "...There was this dealer, back in Boston, near where I lived. He was a drug runner, shakedown guy, nastier than the mob. Total sleazebag, but everyone on the street was scared shi... stupid of him, cause he was so mean. He used to wear this ring, a cross with a skull in it, real distinctive. You could see it for blocks, it covered his whole hand. And anytime you saw that ring comin, you knew who you were dealing with, and if you had any brains you'd either lay down or jump a bus to Jupiter. He was _that_ bad." The Mayor was smiling at this story, munching his fries. Faith took a breath, feeling strangely nervous. "And I figured... once the whole changeover happens, and I'm your...preistess girl, whatever--" "Yes," he said, as though solidifying it. "You'll do such a good job, Faith. I have complete faith in you." He laughed sharply. "There's a pun! Faith in Faith!" Faith nodded, silently glowing at this unabashed endorsement. "...well, I figured this'd be like... my symbol." she finished up. She fluttered her fingers, watching the silver snake glitter. "People'll see this, and they'll know, y'know...who I'm representing." She looked him in the eyes, trying not to blink. He'd think it was stupid. He'd laugh at her..... He wasn't, though. The Mayor's mouth dropped open slightly. His whole face lit up, though his features didn't really move. "Well....Faith! That's...." He looked totally flattered. "That's so clever!" Faith glowed. Now would be the time for her other little surprise, good a time as any. "Yeah. And listen, I kind of got somethin'...." She leaned down, reaching into her plastic bag, pulling the smaller bag out of it. She wished she'd picked up some wrapping, or at least tried to make the bag look nice... but maybe he wouldn't mind. She sat up, not knowing how to present it. "Uh, here y'go," she finally stumbled, throwing it before him. The Mayor wiped his salty fingers on a napkin, set it down before delicately pulling the bag apart. On second thought, Faith was glad she _hadn't_ wrapped it -- he was undoubtedly one of those people who saved the paper and took eight hours unwrapping presents just so they wouldn't mess it up. Finally he plucked the bag free. "Holy--" God, it was even uglier out here in the light of the Food Court. Faith couldn't even believe she'd picked it out. "Um, it just kind of reminded me of..." That was cruel. "It just screamed you," she reworded. Well, it screamed, all right. To be put out of its misery. But the Mayor looked overcome. "It's a tie!" he spoke finally. Faith uttered a mental sigh, thankful his first impulse wasn't to set it on fire. "Yeah. Well, I thought, you know... get you one while you've still got a neck..." She bit her lip. "While you can actually wear it and all--" "I will." He nodded, folding it neatly in half. "I will wear it, Faith. Count on it." She knew, somehow, that he would. Faith hazarded a glance in his eyes. "You've just been getting me so much stuff... I mean the apartment, and the car -- well, I wrecked that, but still. And the clothes and the knife and...I haven't done anything for you. Besides killing." Her chocolate eyes were suddenly dark in her pale face. She looked down at her slender, tawny hands, at her shining ring. "It's like a present, y'know, Father's Day and Graduati--" Shit, did she say Father's Day?? "--I mean Ascension Day, you know..." Crap, she was overkilling this. Story of her life. Shut up already, before he laughs you out of the Food Court.... The Mayor was far from laughing. He just sat there in the iron cast chair, staring at her, mouth open. "Faith.... that's incredible." He clearly wasn't talking about just the tie. "I honestly don't know what to say to that. It's really...." He made a clucking sound, as if it was just too much. Faith smiled, unused to being thanked. "Don't worry about it," she shrugged it off. Secretly, though, she was glowing. This was the coolest thing. So relaxed, so warm and right, the both of them trading presents and showing off junk they'd bought, like the families at the other tables were doing. Faith realized that was one reason she used to hate all the people in this mall, and anyone like them -- because try as she might, the old Faith could never, never be like them. She'd never had the money or the friends to try it with before. Now she had both. The Mayor's beeper went off. The mall air-conditioning seemed to have kicked on. Faith could feel the first cool drafts on her shoulders. She watched as the Mayor looked down at his beeping lapel, pausing. He almost looked like he didn't want to answer it. Resigned, he set his new tie down, reaching in to check his beeper. "Aha," he said quietly. "I'm afraid I have to take this, Faith. Might be something I've been waiting on." He turned on his cell phone and dialed a number. Faith munched her french fries dutifully as he waited for an answer. "Wilkins here. Uh-huh." Pause. "Are we sure? There's no mistake that he's.... I see." He nodded, lips pursing decisively. "All right. Well, that's just too bad for him, isn't it? Thank you, Gregory." He beeped it off, stuffed the phone back in his pocket. Faith waited as he played with a french fry, momentarily, before biting off the end. "Well, I'm afraid that brings our little jaunt here to a close, Faith. That was the call I've been waiting for. And it means I have an errand for you to run." Faith nodded, feeling strangely let down. An errand. Code for "a hit". The idea didn't jazz her like it used to. Back to the killing, the blood. Back to the darkness. She watched his face; he was looking at his fries with darkened, closed blue eyes. He didn't want to go back, either. "I'll tell you," he spoke up suddenly, "you're a kid, and you think you know everything about the world, and you make decisions... and they end up ruling the rest of your life. Sounds trite, I know... but it's the truest darned thing." He surrendered a brief laugh that was like the air being knocked out of him. "Funny... the things that come up at the last second." Faith nodded, trying to look as though she was digesting that. She was, she just didn't know what the hell he meant. "Yeah," she muttered for lack of anything better to say. The Mayor sighed, fiddling with a button on his cuff. He tilted his head, thoughtfully....and then suddenly, he was back. The guy she'd been hanging out with all day was gone, and the mayor of Sunnydale -- the wicked, powerful sorceror who had every demon within three counties scared crapless of him -- was looking up at her. He gave her a grin, eyes sparkling. "So, we're off?" he offered brightly. Faith nodded. She could do it, too. She could feel the armor going up around her already, shutting away the soft, harmless person she had been for the day. Back to the bad-ass, the reliable killer, number one assassin. She was tough. She could handle it. "Let's roll," she said, pushing her seat back. The two walked across the mall plaza, less crowded now as the sun was going down, as the smart trained dogs of Sunnydale went to their cars, got to their homes, headed for cover. He and she wouldn't be going home. No need. They owned this town. Out of the mall Faith and the Mayor walked, side by side, into the darkness. And glancing at each other, they exchanged a smile.   
The End   
** [ Feedback me!][1]  
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   [1]: mailto:catwoman@marvin.lhi2.net
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